Hail Horror Hail

Sigh is one of the best metal bands in the world, but until this release, they were simply a very good black metal band from Japan, doing a familiar style with a cool ethnic influence.

Well, this is where the levee broke, and Sigh would never be the same again. And neither would I. The titular track opens with a volley of Mirai's mad snarling, and 70s influenced blues leads over a raging metal riff. You are immediately confronted with several layers of melodies, the guitars are fucking everywhere and despite this being a very evil metal album, they manage to give you that real good feeling. But it's not over, for the latter half of this opening song is full of lush, beautiful orchestration which recalls classic, romantic theater productions and then relapses into more Mirai snarls...and this is all happening to simplistic slasher/killer lyrics like this:

'Beyond all morality into insanity
I plunge my knife in you again and again
Torture your corpse before it's cold
I seek to devour your life and soul'

What the fuck? Right? And this is only the first song! The 2nd track "42 49" brings back some of that earlier Sigh feeling where you are reminded of Celtic Frost/Hellhammer...but wait, what is that? Psychedelic robotic vocals only a few seconds into the track? Folk guitars? What is going on here. I demand an answer.

What IS going on here is an already brilliant band has gone stratospheric in their mushroom-addled ambitions, and concocted one of the best original sounds to ever exist in the wide world of heavy metal. A style so unique it belongs up there with the Voivods of the world, the few and far between.

The rest of the album is equally engaging. The frightening, discordant orchestral doom groove of "12 Souls". The pure piano dirge of "Burial". The shimmering, epic "The Dead Sing" and electro-orchestral number "Invitation to Die". And you haven't even got to "Curse of Izanagi" which is one of their classic go-to songs.

Hail Horror Hail isn't Sigh's best album. I'd reserve that title for Imaginary Sonicscape. But Hail Horror Hail is still an extremely beautiful work of art, which belongs in the collection of any person of taste. It was truly the turning point that skyrocketed them into the upper echelon of metal genius minds.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I keep telling myself that Sigh is like a sigh – an audible breath of air. A sigh carries different meanings depending on the situation and attitude of the person. One can express their impatience, general fatigue, or indifferent mood however they see fit. Sigh acts as a very interchangeable band – I doubt what I’m hearing here will carry on two albums down the road. Despite keeping a stable line-up, the music borrows from many genres and each song plays out like a level, rather than a typical song.

First off, the production is interstellar – when I first pressed play, it warped me to a world between polished and raw that I’ve never grasped before. Could this be an mp3 issue, a burning issue, a warping issue, what? Whatever the case, it fits superbly with the otherworldly tone. It’s like giving a bunch of Nintendo characters a bunch of instruments to play black met… wait, yeah. Yeah that’s the fucking deal right there… and I’m not talking about the shitty Nintendo Wii or the underachieving Nintendo Gamecube. No, we’re going back to the Nintendo 64 with this album – primarily the games regarding classic Nintendo characters like Link, Mario, my nigga Donkey Kong, and basically the cast of the original Super Smash Bros.. The orchestration, keys, sampling and atmosphere just gives album this blatant Nintendo feel. A mentioned the tracks playing like levels, as in levels of a video game; there are numerous sections in each song that would fit well in a particular level, stage, screen of a game. Take the portion from 1:35 to 2:01 from the song “12 Souls” – spectacular if you fit it with the Milk Bar music from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Anyway, when I first heard Kawashima’s raw, boiled screams, I thought it was Beavis. “TWO TACOS PLEAAASE! AND A SMALL ORDER OF FRRIIEEESSS!" It’s a raspy-growly scream, very distressed but not mutilated. Surprisingly, it fits with the music in both black metal and avant-garde perspectives. In both cases, the music gets pretty dark, but I smell more fun in the air than anything serious. The keys take precedence over the guitars and bass, a move that I’m not offended by since the formula works very well. It’s a fantastic blend of black metal (sounding more like thrash / black) mixed into a classic Nintendo environment – a land where all the problems of our world do not entirely exist. You have to hear it yourself to understand, but that’s how I hear it. The riffs add deeper concentration to the journey, but it’s really the keys that manifest where the song goes. They’re literally everywhere and on every song, fighting forward through thick and thin for a “Stage Complete” text at the very end. It’s a fun, enjoyable, and light-hearted mood throughout with many different arrangements and struggles.

Melody is the key, both harnessed by the riff and key combinations. They don’t sacrifice anything to achieve these two proficiently, and helping them along the way is the drum kit – acting like Yoshi, Diddy Kong, or whatever damn sidekick you’d prefer. The sound is perfect for the tone, so hollow drums are out of the equation. They are buried heavily under the layers of keys and guitars though and, like the bass, they get shoved aside for the more up front instruments. I can’t complain too much though, since everything works like a team and the patterns performed by Fujinami are enough to carry on with: no mundane blast beats, but rhythmic precision.

Hail Horror Hail is an epic album split into nine journeys that easily could have been part of a game in your Nintendo 64 stock. If I heard this while playing as Donkey Kong in Super Smash Bros. facing three other dumbasses, then there’d be an overwhelming beatdown heading their way. The cover is incredibly misleading and, I’ll admit, was the reason I chose this album as a starting point over the others. I’d recommend it for you, too, since it’s not only a great listen, but you also get a feel for their more experimental direction without being bombarded with it.